Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Aaron Anderson [4]
Loop south from the Grand Canyon and drive through 110 miles of Arizona’s red rock country to Sedona. With spindly towers, grand buttes and flat-topped mesas carved in crimson sandstone the town can easily hold its own against national parks when it comes to breathtaking beauty. Memorialized in countless Western flicks, the scenery has provided a jaw-dropping backdrop for those riding tall in the saddle. Though Sedona was founded in the 19th century, the discovery of energy vortices here in the 1980s turned this once modest settlement into a bustling New Age destination – many believe this area is the center of vortices that radiate the Earth’s power. Follow Hwy 89A south from Sedona. The first part of the drive winds through the best of red rock country – when the light hits these massive rocks at the right angle they glow tomato, pumpkin and gold. It then climbs the crumbling ridge of the Mogollon Rim to Jerome, our favorite ghost-gone-gallery town in the Southwest. Wedged into steep Cleopatra Hill, Jerome resembles those higgledy-piggledy Mediterranean hamlets clinging to a rocky hillside. Well, at least from afar. Close-ups reveal a history solidly rooted in the Old West. Jerome was home of the unimaginably fertile United Verde Mine, nicknamed the “Billion Dollar Copper Camp.” It was also the wickedest town in the West, teeming with brothels, saloons and opium dens. When the mines petered out, the remaining residents looked to tourism as the new gold. Spend the night at the Mile High Inn. Once a bordello and then a hardware store, today it’s a snug, but haunted, B&B. Reserve the Lariat & Lace Room for the best chance of seeing a ghost; the former madam supposedly still hangs out here. The Asylum Restaurant, in the Jerome Grand Hotel, has the best views and food in town. The venerable dining room is decorated with deep-red walls, lazily twirling fans and gilded artwork.
A conglomeration of some 20 cities zippered together by freeways, Phoenix, 120 miles south, resembles one giant (and not particularly pretty) strip mall upon first look. But there’s much more here than seen on the initial glance. Phoenix is an excellent place to get pampered in a ritzy spa at a five-star resort, dine on juicy steaks and practice your golf game – there are more than 230 courses in the metropolis. Try staying at the Boulders Resort, where tensions evaporate the moment you arrive. It’s a desert oasis blending nearly imperceptibly into a landscape of natural rock formations that is home to the ultra-posh Golden Door Spa and an 18-hole Jay Morris–designed championship golf course.
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ASK A LOCAL
“What so special about Santa Fe? The light. The atmosphere. It is like not being in America, and yet I am still here. There is no place else in the country with architecture like here. One of the great things about Santa Fe is it’s the classic American small town. I go to restaurants and always run into people I know. I even run into them on the sidewalk. And it’s not pretentious. That’s part of why I moved here.”
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It’s just a short hop from Phoenix south to the bustling college town of Tucson. Less intimidating than her big sister, Tucson is Arizona’s second largest city, but feels like a small town. This is a town rich in Hispanic heritage (more than 20% of the population is of Mexican or Central American descent), so Spanish slides easily off most tongues and high-quality Mexican restaurants abound. The eclectic shops toting vintage garb, scores of funky restaurants and dive bars don’t let you forget Tucson is a college town at heart, home turf to the 37,000-strong University of Arizona (U of A). Right in the thick of things downtown, infamous bank robber John Dillinger and his gang were captured